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Surah al-Jinn
When someone behaves in a way that shows that they are not in control of their will, that they cannot sense what is harmful or dangerous to themselves, the Arabic word used will probably be majnun.
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Surah al-Insan & al-Dahr
This surah can be paired with the one before it. Al-Qiyamah ended with a brief account of the lowly first stages of human life, from which one can hardly imagine that there could emerge so complex a creature as a human being capable of knowing right from wrong and therefore…
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Surah al-Tatfif
Woe unto the mean-hearted – those who, when they take the measure from people, strive to have it full, and when they measure for them, strive to make it short. Although some translations render mutaffifin as fraudsters…
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Surah Nuh
This surah is a condensed overview of the themes found in more extended narration elsewhere in the Qur’an, of the story of Nuh `alayhi s-salam, notably Surah Hud. As always in the Qur’an, the focus on certain elements…
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Surah Al-`Imran
The longer surahs at the beginning of the received text of the Qur’an have a complex arrangement of passages because they are simultaneously addressing three major concerns of the Qur’an, and the focus of attention alternates between these concerns.
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Not being able to take a bath after menstruation
If a woman’s menstruation stops while she is at work or travelling and she is not able in that situation to take a bath (ghusl), is she allowed to miss the obligatory prayers (i.e. defer them until she can take a bath)?
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Those eligible for Zakah
Who should I pay my zakah to in the West? The qualification in the question, “in the West”, does not have much significance for the answer, except that in the West, Muslims however numerous, do not (or do not yet) organise the collection and expenditure of zakah as a state function.
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Who Taught You Literary Criticism?
[قالوا: ما النقد الأدبي؟ قلت: هو دراسة للأعمال الأدبية وتفسيرها وتحليلها وموازنتها بغيرها والكشف عن محاسنها ومقابحها وما فيها من قوة وضعف ولون وجمال، وهو بكلمة أخرى تقدير النص الأدبي تقديرا صحيحا وبيان قيمته ودرجته وتحليل أسلوبه قالوا: ما الأسلوب وما تحليله؟ قلت: الأسلوب هو المسلك الذي ينتهجه الأديب أو العالم أداء لمعنى من المعاني]
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Taqwa
Taqwa is the root of all the virtues that adorn religious life, and the virtues in turn strengthen the root from which they grow. Without taqwa the motivation for religious life is clouded and confused, brittle, vulnerable…
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The Prophet as a Teacher
The manners and personal preferences, and also the public judgements and policies, of the Prophet, (s),, have been studied and preserved by devout Muslims throughout the millennium and half since the coming of Islam.
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